✍️By Special Correspondent
Bengali film ‘Mahishasur Marddini’ (Eng: A Night to Remember) has been selected to compete with 13 other titles from Iran, Israel, Japan, China, Philippines, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and India, in the Asian Cinema Competition section of the 13th Bengaluru International Film Festival, to be held from 3rd till 10th March this year. BIFFES is among the five international film festivals in India accredited by the FIAPF (International federation of Film Producers’ Association). According to the writer and director Ranjan Ghosh, Mahishasur Marddini is a letter of apology to women for the wrongs done to her through the ages that continue even to this day. The film is set in one location and tells the story of a single night.
Director’s Quote: “Of course we are excited. We would have been content with a berth in the ‘Indian Competition’ section, but a selection in the ‘Asian Cinema Competition’ was something unexpected. Rituparna Sengupta, Saswata Chatterjee, Parambrata Chattopadhyay and actor-director Koushik Kar are all very happy about this. This selection validates their faith in my script and in the film. We have been doing this film over the last couple of years, struggling with the three waves of COVID. My young cast of Sritama Dey, Aryuun Ghosh, Arunima Halder, Abhyuday Dey, and Purbasha Mal, along with actors Shaheb Bhattacherjee and Poulomi Das, my producers AVA Films and Vinayak Pictures, and my cinematographer Subhadeep Dey, art director Ashis Adhikary, stylist Payel Dutta, editor Amit Pal, music director Avijit Kundu, sound designers Abhik Chatterjee and Ayan Bhattacharya, colorist Manikumar PV, my EPs Debasree Datta and Anindya Sengupta – all of them had kept their faith in me, and I feel vindicated today with this very prestigious selection. We are grateful to BIFFES 2022 for giving us this opportunity.”
Mahishasur MarddiniWritten and Directed by: Ranjan GhoshPresented by AVA Film Productions Pvt. Ltd. & Pawan Kanodia
Cast:
Rituparna Sengupta, Saswata Chatterjee, Parambrata Chattopadhyay, Sritama Dey, Aryuun Ghosh, Arunima Halder, Abhyuday Dey, Koushik Kar, Shaheb Bhattacherjee, and Poulomi Das.
Crew:
Cinematographer – Subhadeep DeyEditor – Amit PalMusic – Avijit KunduSound Design/Mix – Abhik Chatterjee and Ayan BhattacharyaArt Director – Ashis AdhikaryCostume – Payel Dutta
Synopsis:
UNESCO has included Kolkata’s Durga Puja in its list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. It is a religious cultural event signifying the victory of good over evil and worships the female form of God. Mahishasur Marddini is another name for Goddess Durga. Our story begins with the gang-rape and murder of a ten-year-old deaf-mute destitute girl a night before Durga puja is scheduled to begin in Kolkata. She happened to live through her days and nights at the local Hindu crematorium and Muslim graveyard. The story line then shifts to the house of a landlady and her four college-going tenants who are busy with last-minute festival preparations. Through the night they receive a few visitors, some planned, some unplanned. The incidents that unfold thereafter showcase the trials and tribulations faced by women all over. The characters too have their moment of catharsis as they realize that a girl-child or a woman in distress is nothing short of humanity in peril. Mahishasur Marddini is our letter of apology to women for the wrongs done to her through the ages, that continue even to this day.